a falling star pt. II

I posted my rainy day poem as I said I would, but I did't want to leave it at that, so I thought I'd share a bit about the happenings around here. (Also, I usually don't like a post without pictures, but I'm having issues getting them uploaded due to wifi troubles... they will be added soon, but here's what's been going on!)

Tuesday and Wednesday have been full of helping decorate for Christmas! On Tuesday evening we joined Patricia (whose home we are living in) in making ornaments to decorate the church with. We wrapped balloons with gluey string and hung them up to dry. The first of a few different Pintrist-y sort of projects.

We were also invited to help out with Pastor Elia's churches decoration night. We had stayed in the home of Pastor Omar and Natalia, who are the assistant pastors of Elia and Martita. Their church is across town so we headed off towards trying to figure out the bus lines to get there (a nearly impossible task..). We got there and were put to work covering stars with tinfoil and tying a string on them to hang from all over the church. The tin foil was like tissue paper, which kept things interesting.

Pastor Elia lives pretty close to Fabian and Patricia, so he gave us a ride home, LUCKILY, because a huge storm blew in and by the time we got to the house it was a icy downpour. The 50 yards to our room left us drenched and we reached our room just in time to stop a flood of water from reaching our suitcases! Close call!

Yesterday we took the afternoon to take a trip to Carefore, which is the Argentine version of a Wal-Mart, ironically, next door to Wal-Mart. After missing our stop and getting off the bus 20 blocks later, moving to the other side of the street, and waiting for the bus back, we finally got there, got the essentials, and took another bus back home. Who'd have guessed that something so simple would be a 3 1/2 hour process! I've definitely been thinking of ways to fill my commuting time.. books, sermons, etc.

Last night we spent another couple hours with Patricia making decorations for the Christmas service. This is a big time of year, and decorations are expensive, so making them is the way to go. She is a teacher, so has all these neat tricks that make decorations fun and less costly. Hope that you enjoy the pictures!

We also got some great news yesterday! We are officially accepted under the care of Covenant World Missions... We found out that this process usually takes 6-12 months, and my pastor in Salina said that a month ago he would have given it a 5% chance of working out. But the right people were here at the miraculously right time (we had to meet with the two directors of South America, who have never visited here until this year and they came 3 days after we arrived here). God has been working things out behind the scenes in SO many ways that I can't even imagine. All we have yet to do is fill out some paperwork and skype with some people so that we can get our account open.

I was just told yesterday that, "God is doing a thousand things in your life and we might be aware of two of them." This is so true! I think that there are plans for me here that I can't even imagine, but I am hoping to be continually guided and see the fruit of His labor, both in and through me.

Thanks for reading! You can sign up for getting these updates sent to your email by typing your email address to the right. Leave a comment or email me at l.iman1989@gmail.com. I'd love to hear from you and be able to pray with and for you as you have been doing the same for me!


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a falling star.

Catch a falling star
And put it in your pocket...
What happens on that rainy day?
Do the clouds get tossed away?
As if they're less than this star
You possess?
This is the start of the mess.
Judging beauty by function,
Making assumptions,
Not having the gumption to look in the mirror,
To not see flaws, but drops of rain.
None the same.
Known by name and cherished
By every flower
Every tree, blade of grass,
Bees that pass;
They rejoice!
Loving the booming voice
Of thunder!
The wonder!
The plunder of worms it brings.
And the baby bird sings
As it's mother returns.
It's a dance;
A chance to renew.
A time to find life
Whether it's in the midst of a storm
Or the clearest of nights.


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rainy days.

A storm rolled in early this morning.  A cold relentless downpour, followed by ten minutes of calm, then a light drizzle that hasn't stopped. Seems kind of synonymous with how life has been in the last month.

This week Staci and I are finally settled into the house that we will be staying in. Take a visual trip with me. ^_^ You walk through a gate, unlock the door to a cement hallway. To the left there are doors that enter the sanctuary. The hallway is about 50 yards or so. If you go straight, you turn the corner to a patio, with nothing overhead. Bathrooms to the right. If you turn left after the hallway there is a staircase. Our room is half way up to the right. Keep climbing the stairs and you reach a huge room with tables and chairs set up like divided classrooms. Off to the left is our kitchen. And across from the kitchen there are more stairs that lead you to the roof, where there is another patio, a guest house, and a two bedroom house of the pastor and his family. It's a blessing. Cockroaches and all. ;)

The last month has kind of caught up with me now that we're settled; concluding in a lot of tears and wondering what God is up to.  It's a conglomeration of everything: the trauma of having to leave the organization I was with, the struggle of culture shock, homesickness in the holiday season, worrying about money coming through, and just trying to trust God through it all.

We were talking the other day about how we have started expecting for things to go wrong. Like, how God has been faithful to take care of our needs, but if it's not absolutely necessary, it has not been consistent. We didn't have running water this last week. We toted up water in buckets to the kitchen to clean and cook. Taking cold make shift baths. No one has air conditioning here. It's alright at night, but with the tin roofs, our bedroom becomes an oven. We keep the windows open at night for the breeze, but it lets in the bugs. Haha this morning I kept waking up to the buzz of a mosquito in my hear and started dreaming of being covered from head to toe in bites. Of course, wifi is a luxury when it's working. I know it's not a need of mine, but it's hard to feel so disconnected, especially when it's already hard enough to feel connected with people here being non-fluent in the language.

All this to say. God has definitely been showing me that He is all I need, which led me to listen to Nothing Without You, by Bebo Norman on repeat.

"All my soul needs
Is all Your love to cover me
So all the world will see
That I have nothing without You."

It's crazy that you can give up all you have to serve in another country, just to be taught more about God and needing Him than you could ever teach anyone else. It's humbling. And of course makes me question my usefulness. But as I was reminded before coming here: God doesn't call the qualified, he qualifies the called.

Thank you for all your prayers. And for listening to my semi-sad processings. I wrote a poem about how rainy days are just as beautiful as starry nights =) I'll share it on another day.


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The other day I was chatting with a friend back home. After a while she asked, “So what are you up to down there?” As I fill her in, I realize that I’m doing the same thing she is doing in her town. Some mundane, like cleaning. Some essentials, like cooking. And some church functions, taking the youth group on an end of the year trip, going to prayer meetings, and listening to people. Of course there’s things like drinking máte, eating at weird hours, having to take 30 minute bus rides to town, and worrying about drinking the water and eating the fruit. But no matter where you are, you’re serving “overseas.” Ha! I learned this in Indonesia, when I heard they were sending missionaries to other countries. The main difference is there are a lot fewer believers and less opportunities for people to hear the gospel here.

It has been a trip. Kind of what I expected, but, a lot of unexpected. Like leaving the group I came with and joining another one. Like traveling to a different location more than every week for two months. Like not getting to cook for myself until today! Then, not knowing what to cook or how to buy what I want when I can’t read everything on the labels.

It’s a learning and growing experience. But I want you to know that you can learn and grow where you are. You can meet someone at the park or at work just as easily as I can on a bus getting lost on my way back to my host home. I read an article recently about how missions is everywhere. And something they said that stuck with me is that we are all called to be a neighbor to those on our street, it’s just that some people live on streets in other countries.

Bendiciones mi amigos. (Blessings, friends)

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international festival.

Yes, there's been a lot of transitioning through some difficulties, but through it all there has been grown and good times.

Patricia was sad to have us leave. She said that she has lived alone and happy with God for 8 years and never thought she would enjoy living with other people as much as it had been with us there. She welcomed us and made us feel at home throughout our stay. Couldn't have chosen a more encouraging place to be.

On our last day there, she gave Staci and I two of her CDs that she had recorded. Both with all original songs. I had wanted to record a song that she played for us, so this was like 10x better than I could have imagined.

That evening the four of us girls headed to Rosario's International Festival. They have it every year and have food and tents set up representing all the different cultures that are represented in the town.

Each of the countries had a stage for them to show off their traditional dances.

We strolled through Germany, Israel, and Iran. Mikayla ate in Peru. Staci and I ate in Austria and bough snacks in Siria. It was the first time I've had baklava. So. Good. I was surprised to see that the Japan line was like... 100 people long! There also wasn't a station for the U.S. Not that I would have eaten the food there, but it would have been fun to see what they had there.

Entering Peru. It doesn't look like it in the pictures,

 but there were hundreds of thousands of people there.

Yesterday we said our goodbyes and took a bus to La Plata. I'm sure there will be a lot to write about here so I'll just leave it with that. The family that has welcomed us is great. I'm currently successfully burning my tongue on maté and brain dead from comprehending and speaking a foreign language.

Mikayla within the first 5 minutes of being at the festival haha!

Until next time,


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Rosario's flag monument at night

vessels.

The last couple of days in our group devotional times we've talked about the lady in the old testament that was widowed and had a bunch of debt to pay off. And she was asked, "Well, what do you have?" and she responded, "I have this vessel of oil."

She had a vessel of oil. And in faith she did what she was told and went out and collected vases and cups and bowls and jars from her neighbors and God multiplied that oil to fill every single one of them. And when she filled the last of the jars, the oil ran out.

I am still without a home, but have been welcomed into the house of a Christian lady, Patricia, who is faithful and trusts God with all that she has. She has cooked meals for us and each night after dinner, we pray together before bed. Hah, she joked about it being the "tower of Babel," because we use what Spanish we know and she uses the English she knows. It's a beautiful beautiful thing.

Staci and Patricia singing after lunch on the first day that we met =)

We've been able to experience God's faithfulness in many ways lately this week. Staci and I met with a family that we met on the sidewalk one day while we were reading our Bibles. Her and our daughters had us for coffee and tea and shared stories about what God was doing in our lives. We prayed together and left feeling blessed and like we had made some new friends.

On the way to move in to Patricia's we talked to our taxi driver who at the end of our ride said that we had helped him understand things about God that he had been questioning. He has been angry at God and had thanked us for the long overdue heart conversation that we had with him.

The last couple of days we have been walking all over downtown trying to find realtors so that we can start viewing apartments. Tomorrow we have two appointments set up. Also, Patricia found out that a friend of hers from her church is renting a "large house" in the center that we are hoping to see sometime this week. We know that God will provide and we are hoping that we will see a place and know that it is the one we should stay in!

Until then, Staci and I are figuring out the bus system so that we can get into the center. Today was our first day. I found what I hoped to be the right line, and God worked out the rest. We didn't know where the stop was, we had to walk across this field and lo and behold, we look to our left and the bus is sitting there. The bus driver had to go to the bathroom so it was just.. waiting for us! Ha!

God is so good.

Goodnight.


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argentina time.

 Finally getting time to sit down at my computer and blog! So much has happened the last couple weeks and I'm finally at a place to sit and breathe for a while! This is where I am going to be living the next 8 months! Rosario, Argentina!

This is a picture from the top of a huge monument in the down town area. I think the plan is to live pretty close to this part of town as there are a lot of chances to talk to people in the shopping streets down here. Everything is walking distance.. like.. 20 blocks tops.. ish. Haha!

My lifestyle has definitely been altered! As expected of course, just in ways unexpected! I went from eating healthy, sleeping 10-7. Running daily. To 6 hours of sleep. Lots of meat and fried food. Lots. Of. Meat. Like... Huge steaks every day unless you make a point not to haha! But they're good!

Argentina has a rest time during the day, like 3-6 or something. Then they open back up their stores and stay up till 2. Dinner is at like 9 pm with ice cream afterwards most days haha! Wow. Meat and icecream! Todos las dias! But the icecream is also homemade so, can't complain!

(Pastor Stan is the guy on the far left, 

Pastor Drew is from Tennessee and led a lot of our devotional time. 

Karen is sitting on the couch in the green.)

We were in the capital for a day, spent a couple days in Uruguay sharing the gospel with people and having morning and evening sessions/sermons. These two weeks are set up like a conference so we have a lot of preaching and then a couple times a day we have been going out and talking to people.

I went out with a couple Spanish speakers yesterday and actually got to help lead a gal about my age to Christ! We started to pray with ehr and I was like... "Uhhh, this is really happening!?" Praise the Lord no? It's just confirmation that God is going to use us here! He's going to use me here! Crazy cool!

The next morning Staci and I were sitting outside of the place we were staying and this lady and her daughter were like "Are you Christians!?!" She said that she thinks God brought her to us and wanted to go get lunch sometime! It was exciting and encouraging for sure.

The rest of the team went on to Chile and then back to Peru. So Staci, Karen (Pastor Stan's wife), and I are now in a hotel and have a chance to explore the city and catch up on sleep. I have a cold right now so it's appreciated. The Rosario team right now is Staci, Stan, Karen, myself and a gal named Mikaylah. She was in Peru with Stan and Karen last year and is a bundle of fun! We will be joined by 1 or 2 guys from Ecuador and Peru in January!

We still don't have a place to live yet. Hopefully that will work itself out at the beginning of next week. We have passed several apartment buildings that say they have places for rent, so we will just have to search around and find the one God has for us!

(This is a street of one of the big shopping streets 

in the capital of Buenos Aires. 

The colors were SO cool!)

Thanks for reading! And for all your prayers!


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